EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTOFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGETWASHINGTON, D.C. 20503

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY(THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN COORDINATED BY OMB WITH THE CONCERNED AGENCIES.)

May 22, 2000 (House)

S. 430 - Kake Tribal Corporation Land Exchange Act(Young (R) AK)

The Administration has worked closely with the Congress and
representatives of the Corporation, State, and village of Kake on S. 430
and could support the bill, as reported by the House Resources
Committee, if it is amended to address a few remaining Administration
concerns. These include transferring management responsibility for the
conservation easement over the Kake village watershed to the non-federal
Southeast Alaska Lands Trust. As reported, S. 430 would authorize the
Kake Tribal Village Corporation in Alaska to exchange certain lands in
the village of Kake, Alaska, for National Forest System (NFS) lands to
provide watershed protection for the village. The State of Alaska would
relinquish its existing selection rights to these NFS lands and there
would be no net loss to the Tongass National Forest (TNF) land base.

The Administration would strongly oppose an amendment in the nature
of a substitute that may be offered to S. 430, as reported by the
Committee. This possible substitute amendment would require the Federal
Government to give up additional subsurface estate to the Sealaska
Native Regional Corporation without just compensation to the American
people, and create complex management situations within the TNF by
further dividing ownership of the surface and subsurface estate.